Convicted Houston rapist loses bid for a second trial

A Houston rapist who attacked a 6-year-old boy lost his fight for new trial Wednesday when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled evidence was strong enough to convict him despite problems with DNA tests.

Lawrence Napper, 51, is serving life for the February 2001 kidnapping outside a neighborhood store. Jurors decided Napper took the boy to a home, tied him to a bed and sexually assaulted him before the child was released the next day.

District Judge Jeannine Barr recommended Napper get a new trial last year after ruling that Houston police crime lab personnel acted in bad faith when they used up all of the victim's DNA evidence in the original testing. The lab used the samples from the victim to link Napper to the case.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in an 82-page opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that incompetence and unprofessional practices of some of the HPD lab analysts did not constitute bad faith nor were errors by his court-appointed attorney serious enough to warrant a new trial. The court noted that after the original trial, DNA testing by two independent labs of a residue from test tubes containing the sample from the victim also incriminated Napper.

Innocence Project objects

Wednesday's ruling was blasted by advocates of post-conviction review in Texas.

"With our current Court of Criminal Appeals, everything is one step forward, and two steps back. They might make a decent decision on a dog sniff case, and a week later they make a decision like this that is clearly a setback for the entire innocence movement," said Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas. "Once again, we find the Court of Criminal Appeals covering up for bad police work and preventing the full truth from coming out in a case."

The appeals court also took Napper's court-appointed attorney to task, faulting him for not consulting with a forensic effort to challenge the HPD evidence or fully cross-examine the lab technicians. Before trial, Napper's lawyer was given authority to hire experts and test police evidence for DNA at an independent lab, but he dropped the request when prosecutors said HPD used up all the evidence during its testing.

Defense to continue fight

The court noted the young victim identified Napper in a videotaped line up and described the 1982 Buick Regal used in the kidnapping. Although he failed to identify Napper in court, the boy recounted details of the house owned by Napper's relative where he was assaulted.

The court said Napper did not help his case by testifying during his trial, which allowed prosecutors to introduce his three previous convictions for rape and another for indecent exposure.

Houston defense attorney Bob Wicoff, who represents Napper, said he will continue the fight in federal court.

"We filed a federal appeal today, and we're optimistic that we'll get a different result in federal court," Wicoff said. "There are all sort of legal presumptions that kick in in federal court which pay deference to the state court trial judge," Wicoff said.

Jack Roady, the Harris County assistant district attorney who argued the case, hailed Wednesday's ruling.

"While he may still challenge his convictions in federal proceedings, he will continue to serve the life sentence assessed by a Harris County jury," Roady said.